Senior Legal Counsel & Legal Operations Lead

About The Company

Freedom24 / Freedom Finance Europe is a regulated European online brokerage group headquartered in Cyprus and operating across multiple jurisdictions. We run a fast-growing investment, brokerage and technology business with a broad legal landscape: EU-regulated brokerage operations, subsidiaries and tied agents, technology platforms, intellectual property, real estate, corporate governance, and risk and dispute management.

We are now transforming our legal function into a proactive, object-based and operationally disciplined team — built around managed legal objects, clear ownership, risk-based escalation, legal technology, standardisation, trackers and playbooks.

About The Role

This is an ownership role for a lawyer who wants to build and architect a critical legal infrastructure block. You will own the legal architecture, standards, priorities and risk management across assets, technology, intellectual property, HR-related legal matters, corporate governance and disputes — across all of the Group's entities and jurisdictions.

You will be the department's portfolio owner, escalation point and senior expert, turning recurring matters into templates, playbooks, trackers and standard processes. Your goal is to ensure that the Group's assets, technology, rights, documents, approvals, disputes and post-execution obligations are legally controlled, visible and embedded in the business.

What You Will Do

• Legal infrastructure and entities. Legal support for subsidiaries, SPVs, tied agents and branches; visibility over corporate approvals, powers of attorney, resolutions and authority documents; coordination with Corporate Administration on legalisation, apostille and banking/KYC processes
• Assets, real estate and infrastructure. Drafting and negotiating lease and office-related agreements; managing risks (title, warranties, liability, termination, renewal); tracking key dates and obligations
• Technology and platforms. Software development agreements, SaaS / on-premise licensing, MSAs, SLAs, NDAs and vendor contracts; structuring models for brokerage and fintech platforms; playbooks and negotiation standards
• Intellectual property and trademarks. Chain of title for software, code, content and brand; IP assignment and licensing; trademark and domain portfolio; support for disputes and infringement matters
• HR-related legal matters. Complex dismissals, disputes, cross-border and high-risk cases; templates and policies; separating operational HR from legal escalation
• Disputes and protection. Pre-litigation matters, claims, cease-and-desist, asset protection; legal positions and strategies; managing external counsel; assessing risks and consequences
• Corporate governance. Support for resolutions, powers of attorney and authority documents; checking signing authority before execution
• Templates and knowledge base. Developing and maintaining the department's templates, playbooks and knowledge base, and supporting their ongoing use across the team
• Team management. Leading and developing the legal team; setting quality standards, priorities and escalation rules; converting recurring work into scalable tools; cooperating with Legal Operations
  
  

Requirements

Essential

• Law degree (civil-law or common-law jurisdiction); an LLM or strong international background is an advantage
• 12+ years of relevant experience, including substantial in-house or law firm experience supporting regulated financial institutions, fintech, IT/software companies, brokerage groups or international corporate structures
• Proven experience managing legal teams and cross-functional stakeholders
• Strong hands-on experience in several of the following areas: technology/software agreements; IP (ownership, licensing, protection); real estate and infrastructure; employment and contractor law; corporate governance; disputes and pre-litigation; cross-border coordination; external counsel management
• Strong drafting and negotiation skills in English; the ability to work with English-law style commercial contracts
• Fluent English; Russian is a strong advantage given the Group's internal communication environment
• A solid understanding of legal risk allocation: liability, warranties, indemnities, limitation of liability, confidentiality, data/security, termination and dispute resolution
• The ability to translate legal risks into business options and practical decision-making materials
• Experience working in a fast-paced, high-volume, multi-jurisdictional environment
  
  

Advantageous

• Experience in a Cyprus Investment Firm, EU-regulated financial institution, fintech, brokerage, payment institution or technology company
• Knowledge of the EU regulatory environment, GDPR, DORA / operational resilience and sanctions restrictions
• Experience with tied agents, subsidiaries, cross-border structures and KYC processes
• Experience implementing templates, playbooks, trackers, knowledge bases and legal tech / matter-management tools
• Experience managing external counsel budgets and deliverables

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• Experience with IP/trademark portfolios and platform ownership structures
• Experience with HR-related legal matters across European jurisdictions
  
  

What We Value

An ownership mindset, the ability to build systems rather than only solve individual tasks, senior legal judgement and early risk identification, strong prioritisation, the ability to manage complexity, mentoring skills, a business-oriented approach without compromising legal robustness, and confident, professional use of modern legal technology and AI-enabled tools.

Benefits

• On-site work in a modern, well-located office in Limassol;
• Competitive salary;
• Annual performance-based bonus;
• Child benefit for each child under the age of 18;
• VISA sponsorship for the employee and family members;
• Relocation package, including compensation for the flight, two checked bags, and accommodation for one month;
• The company covers 50% of the annual cost of the Healthy Plan, which the employee can set up with any insurance company;
• Company-provided life insurance;
• 21 working days of paid vacation;
• Public holidays under applicable law are substituted by the Employer with 12 alternative days off. The employee can take 1 (one) additional day off per month — 12 (twelve) additional days off per year;
• Up to 3 days of sick leave per month without a medical report from a licensed general physician justifying such absence